How do we know if a drug works?
Why aren’t patients given useful information on the effectiveness of medications?
Nov 28, 2021•5 min
Second Opinion
An examination of medical ethics and the practitioners who define them. Sign up to receive the Second Opinion topics in newsletter form at kcrw.com/newsletters .
Episodes
Sex difference in surgical referrals
Female surgeons with similar experience and skill get fewer referrals than comparably trained male surgeons.
Nov 21, 2021•5 min
Written words matter
When people read doctor’s note they can feel offended and disrespected.
Nov 14, 2021•5 min
When to stop antidepressants?
Its easy to start antidepressants but when is a good time to stop taking them?
Nov 07, 2021•4 min
Back scratching: Medicine and drug companies
The relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession is unhealthy and it impacts us all.
Oct 31, 2021•5 min
Daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks
Why did it take so long to change the recommendations about the preventive effects of aspirin?
Oct 24, 2021•5 min
The fallacy of Kubler-Ross stages of dying
Grieving is important and complex; there is no one “right way” to do it.
Oct 17, 2021•5 min
Pregnancy, mental health, and more
Pregnancy poses unique mental health challenges that we need to address urgently.
Oct 10, 2021•5 min
A new twist for cigarette related disease
Making profits from creating a disease and then making more profit from treating the same disease.
Oct 03, 2021•5 min
Dairy products and health
A close look at the health benefits of dairy products suggests the recommended 3 glasses of milk a day may not be a healthy choice.
Sep 26, 2021•5 min
Practicing What You Preach
How is advice to loose weight received from a clinician who is themselves overweight?
Sep 19, 2021•5 min
Lessons from 9-11
We have learned some important lessons about caring for people from 9-11 we can apply to those impacted by COVID.
Sep 12, 2021•5 min
Robots in surgery
At this point, surgical robots are not all they are cracked up to be.
Sep 05, 2021•5 min
Defensive Medicine
Defensive medicine add costs but not value to clinical care.
Aug 29, 2021•5 min
Using the MRI to evaluate common back pain
While the MRI can be enormously useful for a small number of people with back pain, when overused for common back pain it can lead to some serious problems.
Aug 22, 2021•5 min
The Legacy of Albert Bandura
Bandura, one of the top five psychologists of all time challenged our approach to learning and changing human behavior.
Aug 15, 2021•5 min
Treating loneliness
Loneliness is everywhere and seems to be growing more common. The treatment isn’t medication but social connections.
Aug 08, 2021•5 min
After a diagnosis of lung cancer
Are there benefits of stopping smoking once diagnosed with lung cancer?
Aug 01, 2021•4 min
Do people have an ethical right to have cosmetic surgery?
Government insurance is provided to people for medically necessary care. But, when care is not necessary should it still be provided as a benefit?
Jul 25, 2021•5 min
Refugee Mental Health
Refugees are at high risk for all the stress of changing cultures while being without their usual supports. A bit of prevention may ease their integration into American society.
Jul 18, 2021•5 min
We need more training slots for medical residents
But, in creating new slots we need to grow health care delivery in places where the need is greatest and the trainees will have the greatest impact on improving the community’s health.
Jul 11, 2021•4 min
The double standard of medical marijuana cards
Federal laws are putting many of our young adults in a bind and creating new disparities in health care.
Jul 04, 2021•5 min
Live-Streaming Primary Care
Do the advantages of telemedicine suggest it is an innovation that should last past COVID?
Jun 27, 2021•5 min
Estimating the chance of disease
It turns out that clinicians are not very good at estimating the probability of illness which leads to unnecessary care.
Jun 20, 2021•5 min
Mistaken approval of Alzheimer’s Drug
Aducanumab is not just a drug that doesn’t seem to work, but it is an enormously expensive drug but provides false hope to desperate families.
Jun 13, 2021•5 min
Marketing low value products
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, one lesson is that we need to rethink allowing promotions for treatments that are overdone, unnecessary, or not proven effective.
Jun 06, 2021•5 min
Using incentives to drive health care
For years we have used incentives and disincentives to drive people toward specific behaviors. Is driving toward COVID immunization any different?
May 30, 2021•4 min
Selecting your type of health care provider
Rather than selecting a health care provider based on ability and training, people often rely on demographic data and look for someone they think is like them.
May 23, 2021•5 min
The Promotion of Medical Devices
For years pharmaceutical companies have provide gifts and kickbacks to doctors who prescribed their drugs. Medical device manufacturers are now playing the same game and it’s costing all of us.
May 16, 2021•5 min
Involving Palliative Care too late
Asking health care providers a simple question is surprisingly accurate at predicting how long a person has to live and this information can make a big difference in how people chose to live what time they have left.
May 09, 2021•4 min
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